Conveying apparatus



3 Sheets-shee'tl 1.

(No Model.)

T. S. MILLER. CONVEYING APPARATUS.

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(Numan.) 3 sheets-sheet 3. T. S. MILLER. CONVEYING APPARATUS.

Patented Feb'. 16, 1897.

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2/vzw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, or SoUfrnoRANcE, NEW JERSEY.

CONVEYING APPARATUS.

, SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent N o. 577,192, datedFebruary 16, 1897. Application led September l2, 1892. Serial No.445,643. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may conccrw Be it known that I, THOMAS SPENCER MIL- LER,of South Orange, in the State of N ewJ ersey, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Conveying Apparatus, of which the following is aspeciiication.

One feature of my invention is a rope-carrier one member of which willbe thrown into supporting position as the other member is thrown out ofthe carriage-pathway. Another feature is the mounting and actuating ofthe fall-rope, so that by separating or spreading its supports thefall-block is raised,

and in that position the carriage is caused to travel.

Other features are set forth in the claims. In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure lis a side elevation of one form of the apparatuscontaining my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan View of same. Fig. 3 is a sideelevation of part of the carriage and one fall-rope support. Fig. 4 is aplan view of the same. Fig. 5 is an end elevation, partlyin section.Fig. G is a modification in detail.

ct and d' are hangers supporting the parallel trackways Z2 b.

c is a load-carriage composed of the two parts c c2, connected by thebars or other connections c3 c4. The part c' is provided with the fourwheels d, and the part c2 (shown in in Fig. 5) with the four wheels e.The part c' is also provided with a sheave f, and the kpart o2 with thesheaves g and g.

7L is a traveler supported on the tracliways by the wheels z' andsupporting the sheave j.

k is a sheave secured at the end of the trackways, and Z are guide-rollsmounted upon the outside of the hangers d.

m is a drum fixed upon a shaft m8 at the end of the space between thetrackways.

n is a pulley mounted upon the same shaft with the drum m. The pulley isin three parts, the two outside parts a6 and n? being fast on the shaftns and the central part n being loose on the shaft. The cross-belt n'and straight belt n connect the pulley n with a pulley '112, mounted ona driven line-shaft n4.

o is a drum which may be driven from the line-shaft n4 by the belt n3through gears 'n10 nu. These cross and straight belts may be arranged torun side by side on the pulley n2, which is broad enough for thatpurpose, and

' carriage.

the pulley n, consisting of two fast parts sep arated by a loose part.By shifting the belts either the straight belt or the cross-belt may bemade to drive.

' p is an outward-hauling rope extending from the drum 0 over thefriction-rollers Z, around the sheave k, and back to the traveler 77 towhich it is made fast.

q is an endless rope made fast at one end `to the carriage c andextending with one or more turns around the drum m, over fric`tion-rollers fr, around the sheave j, over the sheave g, down to afall-block s, up again and' over a sheave g', over the sheave f, down tothe fall-block s', and up again to the carriage c', where it is madefast.

tare the rope-carriers, one of which is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and4. Each of them consists of a rocker t', pivoted at t2 to one of thetracks and carrying at opposite ends the ropesupports t3 t4, eachcontaining a series of independent friction-rollers u. The rope-supportsare so secured to the rocker t that when the rocker is in position shownin Fig. 4 the rollers carried by support t4 will be in the positionshown in Fig. 4, where they occupy a' supporting position directlybeneath the space between the trackways. At the same time therope-support t3 will occupy the position shown in Fig. 4 at one side.lVhen the rocker t is rocked into its other position, the rollerscarried by the rope-support t3 will be directly beneath the spacebetween the trackways, and the support 4 will be at one side. Projectingfrom each of the rope-.supports t3 and t4 is a friction-roller '21, andhanging rigidly from the `block w3 of each carriage by side hangers @v2is a delector w, inclined laterally at both ends, as shown in dottedlines, Fig. 4, in poi sition to strike against the roller o of either ofthe rope-supports t3 or t4 that happens to be in supporting position andpush it to one side. The rocker t is long enough so that the distancebetween the rope-supports l153 and t4 is greater than the length of thecarriage, so that as the forward end of the deilector on the carriage,moving in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 4, pushes rope-support t4 toone side the other rope-support t3 will swing into supporting positionimmediately behind the Therefore one or-the other of the rope-supportsi3 or t4 must be in supporting position. The spring zo', operating inthe two notches shown on the rocker t, will prevent the rocker fromoccupying any intermediate position. The inelines b2 serve toA centerthe rope onto the supporting-rollers u..

The operation is as follows: Suppose a load is being hoisted on each ofthe fall-blocks shown in Fig. l, that on the fall-block s being one tonand that on the fall-block s being two tons. The rope 29 is wound inupon the drum o. The first effect will be to haul out the traveler h, soas to haul the fall-block s up till it strikes the block w3 ofcarriage-section c2. The next effect will be to haul the fall-block s,carrying the heavier weight, up till it strikes the block zo* ofcarriage-section c. This is all caused by the movement of the traveler hin the direction of the arrow. rl`he drum o is now stopped and the drumm is started. Thus the traveler 71. remains stationary'and the rope qtravels in either direction required, conveying the carriage ocorrespondingly along the trackway to the point required, whenthe drum mis stopped again and the rope p paid out until the loads are lowered.The rope-carriers t support the sag of rope q, particularly when therope 1J is being paid out for the purpose of lowering the unloadedfall-blocks .s and s.

The sections contained in the carriage c, which I have shown as two, maybe reduced to one or may be multiplied to any extent desired, in whichlattercase the fall-rope will be correspondingly extended to each. Inlieu of actuating the traveler 72.- by the drum 0 through the rope p itmay be actuated by a rod h or other member, Fig. 6, connected with apiston h2, reciprocated within the cylinder h; by any power.

The function of the rocker t being to throw one of the rope-supportsinto position as thel other is thrown out, other members may be used asequivalents for the same purpose.

The supports t3 and t are shown as being carried by the rocker t', butthey might be carried in guideways fixed to the track or otherwisesupported.

I do not wish to confine myself to the double trackway shown anddescribed.

1. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a trackway, a load-carriagetraveling thereon, a fall-rope hanging from said loadcarriage andextending horizontally to an end of the span, two fall-rope supportsbelow the level of the horizontal portion of said fall-rope, meanswhereby the same are successively moved out of the way of the verticalpart of said fall-rope and a connection between the two whereby themovement of one out of the way throws the other into supporting positionbelow the horizontal portion of said fall-rope, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a trackway, a load-carriagetraveling thereon, a fall-rope hanging from said loadcarriage andextending horizontally to an end of the span, two fall-rope supportsbelow the level of the horizontal portion of said fall-rope, meanswhereby the same are successively moved out of the way of the verticalpart of said fall-rope and a connection between the two whereby themovement of one out of the way throws the other into supporting positionbelow the horizontal portion of said fall-rope and a spring inantagonism to which said movement is made substantially as described.

In a conveying apparatus, in combination, the two tracks, theload-carriage traveling thereon, a fall-rope hanging from said carriageand extending horizontally to an end of the span, a rocker pivot-allysupported intermediate its two ends and adapted to rock in a horizontalplane laterally of said tracks, a fall-rope-supporting roller mounted invertical position upon and moved by each tremity of said rocker belowthe level of the horizontal portion of said fall-rope and means wherebysaid rocker is reciprocated as the load-carriage passes, substantiallyas described.

4. In a conveying apparatus in combination a trackway, a load-carriagetraveling thereon, a traveler located at the farther end of saidtraclrway, means whereby said traveler is propelled outwardly, afall-rope sheave mounted upon said traveler, a sheave at the near end ofsaid trackway, an endless fall-rope supported by said two sheaves and bythe load-carriage and forming a loop depending from the load-carriagewhereby as the traveler moves out the fall-rope performs the function ofhoisting and the fall-block supported by said loop, substantially asdescribed.

5. In a conveying` apparatus in combination, a trackway, a load-carriagetraveling thereon and provided with the block w3 secured between theside frames of the load-carriage, a rope-support adapted to be deflectedas the carriage passes and a deflector carried by said carriage the saiddeflector being suspended upon a hanger secured to the block w3 of theload-carriage, substantially as described.

6. In a conveying apparatus in combination, a traclrway, a load-carriagerunning upon said trackway, a traveler running upon said tra'ckwaycontinued, a fall-rope sheave mounted upon said traveler, means forpropellin g said traveler outwardly, a fall-rope eX- tending from saidtraveler to said load-carriage below which it forms a loop and thence tothe near end of said trackway whereby as the traveler moves out thefall-rope performs the function of hoisting, a fall-block suspended bysaid loop and means whereby said load-carriage is propelled,substantially as described.

7. In a conveying apparatus in combination, a trackway, twoload-carriages traveling thereon, a traveler located at the farther endof said trackway, a fall-rope sheave mounted upon said traveler, meanswhereby said traveler is propelled outwardly, a fall-rope eX- IOO IIO

tant traveling-rope support, a fall-rope sheavc mounted upon saidsupport, a tracliway eX- tending between said rope-supports, aloadcarriage mounted upon said trackway, a rope extending between saidrope-supports and forming a loop beneath the load-carriage intermediatethe two and operating to perform the function of hoisting as thetraveling-rope support is moved outward, a fall-block suspended by saidloop, means whereby said loadvcarriage may be propelled and independentmeans whereby said traveling-rope support may be propelled,substantially as described.

THOS. SPENCER MLLER.

Vitnesses:

J. FosTER, F. B. KNIGHT.

